conlangfandomcom-20200223-history
Lili
Alphabet and phonology Vowels a: /a e: /ɛ i: /i o: /ɔ u: /u Consonants b: /b c: /ʃ d: /d f: /f g: /ɡ j: /ʒ k: /k l: /l m: /m n: /n p: /p r: /r s: /s t: /t v: /v x: /x y: /ɣ z: /z Grammar Morphology Hyphenated words like "z-c" are degree words. "z-c" means "sadness-happiness" and is inflected this way: zuoc: very sad (-3) zuec: sad (-2) zuac: a bit sad (-1) zuc: neutral (0) zoc: a bit happy (1) zec: happy (2) zac: very happy (3) Also: zoec: sadder zoac: happier zeuc: saddest zeac: happiest Syntax Lili has a SVO word order, and has a unusual way of forming sentences. Lili's sentences always start and end with an operand, alternating between operands and operators. For example, consider the following sentence: "The dog eats (some) food": kurki naki jemo "kurk" is the dog, "nak" means "to eat" and "jemo" means "food". "kurk" and "jemo" are operands, while "nak" is an operator. It might be explained as "kurk" is A, and "jemo" is B. What is the relationship between the dog and the food? The dog eats the food. "nak" can be interpreted as "A eats B". Every element is separated by an "l" or an "i", and the spaces are totally arbitrary. The sample sentence could have been written as: kurkinakijemo Or kurkina kijemo Or anything you want. Spaces are irrelevant. Everything is lowercase and there is no punctuation. Now, consider the following sentence: "The dog eats" kurkidalnak Now, "nak" ("to eat") is an operand. What is the relationship between the dog and "to eat"? The dog eats. "da" is the operator that connects a subject to a verb. "kurki nak" is not a grammatically valid sentence. Parentheses Consider the following sentence: "I feed my dog" cifcalpi cisel kurk "c" means "I (first person singular)", "fca" means "to feed", "p" is the start of the parenthesis, "c" means "I" again, "se" is the possessive, and "kurk" means "dog". Basically, the parenthesis indicates that "cisel kurk" ("my dog") is to be considered one element. Without the parenthesis, "cifcai cisel kurk" would have meant "The dog of the fact I feed myself", which makes no sense. A parenthesis is closed by "t" BUT it cannot appear at the end of a speech. Passive voice Adding an e- before an operator switches A and B. So that: jemole naki kurk Means "The dog eats (some) food" Lessons (work in progress) Basic sentences The most basic sentence is made by a subject, a verb, and an object. For example, "I love you" is: civarij "c" means "I", "v-r" means "hate-love" ("love" in a non-romantic way), and "j" means "you". Another type of basic sentence is subject + da + verb. For example: cidalnak That means "I eat". This works for both transitive and intransitive verbs. Basic sentences with a parenthesis Without a parenthesis, the last operand modifies the whole thing that was said before. For example, if you want to say:"I eat a red apple", you have to say: cinakipi rendi kickau "c" means "I", "nak" means "to eat", "p" is the start of a parenthesis, "rend" means "apple", "k" connects a noun to an adjective, and "ckau" means "red". Without the parenthesis: "cinaki rendi kickau" would mean "The fact that I eat an apple is red", because "ckau" ("red") would modify everything that was said before, instead of just "apple". Verbal tenses Verbal tenses are indicated with the operand "p-f" ("past-future") after the operator "z". For example: cidalnaki zipuf That means "I'm eating". "p-f" ranges from "puof" (distant past) to "paf" (distant future). "puf" is the present. Evidentiality After the operator "k", the following operands act as evidential markers: veo: experienced event veu: hearsay vez: inference (for example, saying:"Someone took my mobile phone" if you don't see it in the place you left it) voz: speculation (when you have no idea what you're talking about, similar to see word "might") Example sentence: "he/she might be sleeping". reldai cfaulki voz Singular and plural markers "sn" is the singular marker", "pn" is the plural marker. They go after the operator "k". rend: apple(s) rendi kisn: an apple rendi kipn: more than one apple "gn" is the marker for generalizations (it's optional, though): rendi kignigel baga: apples are good "ge" is the copula, which is the verb "to be" in English. Genders After the operator "k", the operands "na" means "female" and "vu" means "male" cidalnak: I eat ciki naldalnak: I (female) eat ciki vuldalnak: I (male) eat Prepositions There are a lot of operators that can be used as prepositions that function like cases. For example "cm" is the comitative operator, that means "in company of", "with". cidal pajb icmij: I walk with you "pajb" means "to walk". "ns" is the instrumental preposition. cidalna kinsiopko: I eat with a fork Negative and interrogative sentences After the operator "k", "nau" turns something negative, and "ba" turns something interrogative. For example: ji naki rendi zipeda: you ate an apple/some apples today ji naki rendi zipedal kinau: you didn't eat any apple today ji naki rendi zipedal kiba: did you eat any apple today? It is possible to only turn a part of the sentence interrogative or negative to express some nuances: ji kibal naki rendi zipeda: was it you who ate an apple today? ji nakipi rendi kibalti zipeda: was it an apple the thing you ate today? ji naki rendi zipi pedal kiba: was it today that you ate an apple? ji kinaul naki rendi zipeda: it was not you who ate an apple today ji nakipi rendi kinaulti zipeda: you ate something that was not an apple today ji naki rendi zipi pedal kinau: it was not today when you ate an apple Types of questions "ba" is the standard yes/no interrogative, while "be" implies something more is happening than just having to answer the question. Compare: jigelpi aboti kibegal kiba: are you a good person? (not implying anything) jigelpi aboti kibegal kibe: are you a good person? (implying something) The second question is usually used when the listener is doing something bad. Other types of interrogatives are "ab" and "ub". "ab" means the speaker prefers the answer to be a "yes", while "ub" means the speaker prefers the answer to be a "no". Compare: jlabo cici zipefi kiab: will you hug me? (I hope yes) jlabo cici zipefi kiub: will you hug me? (I hope not) These questions can be used as an implicit imperative in the future form, but can be used in the past as well. jlabo cirel zipuefi kiab: did you hug that person? (I hope yes) jlabo cirel zipuefi kiub: did you hug that person? (I hope not) Generic and specific bad and good b-ga means "bad-good" (specific), while b-ge means "bad-good" (generic). Here is the difference: cutal kibegal dalnak: there's a good cat who eats cutal kibegel dalnak: there's a cat (cats are good) who eats The specific form indicates that it's the cat of the sentence that is good, while the generic form indicates that cats in general are good. Relative pronoun "zeu" is the relative pronoun, that means "that/who/which". For example: aboti zeulpi kacalkoi xuxo: (lit.) a person who causes death (a killer) Yes, that's the way to say "killer" in Lili. There is no "-er" suffix like in English, so you need to say "a person who something". "Like" There are three ways to say "like" to compare something to something else. "kak": A does something, B does that as well jidal fauki kak ikbac: you smell like a goat (you smell, and a goat smells too) "kek": A does something in the same manner as B jidal fauki kek ikbac: you smell like a goat (the smell is similar) "kok": A does something in the same intensity as B jidal fauki kok ikbac: you smell like a goat (the intensity is similar) "kuk": A does something in the same manner and intensity as B jidal fauki kuk ikbac: you smell like a goat (smell and intensity are similar) From an individual to a group "koze" modifies a noun to indicate the collection of every individual. Most English words don't have a translation. abot: human aboti kikoze: humankind jmun: food jmuni kikoze: all the food that exists, as a whole A couple ambiguous sentences "I don't like you because you're smart", and "Everyday, a person gets hit by a car". The first sentence can be translated in two ways: civueriji eragipi jigel dest: the reason I don't like you is because you're smart civeriji eragipi jigel destiti kinau: I like you, but not because you're smart The second sentence can be even funnier: zatelki vok lezipi aboti dani xamu This sentence can either (unlikely) mean that the same person gets hit by a car everyday, or that it can be a different person every time. To disambiguate, use "fuz" after "abot" to indicate that it's always the same person, or "faz" to indicate that the person might change everytime (though the same person can get hit by a car twice in their life). zatelki vok lezipi aboti kifuzi dani xamu There is a person who gets hit by a car everyday. (Poor thing, I would add). zatelki vok lezipi aboti kifazi dani xamu Everyday, a person (usually a different one each time) gets hit by a car. Expectations "To expect" in English has two meanings: "to want", and "to think something will happen". They are translated as "casu" and "keco" respectively. cicasul ovto: I expect (want) an answer cikecol ovto: I expect (think that will happen) an answer Requests After the operator "k", "rob" indicates that it's a request. jlabo cici kirob: please hug me Emotions and tones of voice After the operator "m", a word that indicates emotion or tone of voice, indicates that the sentence is said with that emotion or tone or voice. cicasulpi clabo ciji timiu rub "I want to hug you" (said with a smile). You can also use "m" as an operand, after the operator "k", to use the emotion as a spoken emoticon. urubikim: (smile emoticon) Conditionals "rag" means "therefore", and "erag" is the passive voice of "rag", it means "because". jlabo cici ragipi cidalzac: you hug me, therefore I'm very happy cidalzaci eragipi jlabocic: I'm very happy, because you hug me "rok" means "if A, then B". It's passive "erok" is a bit difficult to translate in English, but it's something like:"it would be A, if B" jlabo cici rokipi cidalzac: if you hug me, then I'm very happy cidalzaci erokipi jlabocic: I would be very happy if you hug me "rer" can either mean "rag" or "rok" jlabo cici reripi cidalzac It's not specified whether the listener hugs the speaker. Affirmative or negative "fua" after the operator "k" ambiguates the sentence, rendering it affirmative or negative. relabo cici kifua: he/she hugs me, OR he/she doesn't hug me. Can be translated in English approximately as "He/she doesn't necessarily hug me", but without the awkwardness. Useful when you don't want to answer a question. Yes/no a: yes au: yes OR no (when you don't want to answer) u: no Weather Usually, saying "rejd" (rain) or "kave" (snow) is enough to say "it rains" or "it snows". If you want to specify it's unambiguously a verb, then say "weather event" + "da" + "suba", for example: rejdidal suba: it rains But it's really unnecessary. "rejd" is enough, even though it can be either a noun or a verb if alone. If you want to specify "rain" as a noun, use the noun suffix "un" after the operator "k". rejd: rain/it rains rejdidal suba: it rains rejdi klun: rain Reflexives "caj" is the reflexive pronoun, and can be used interchangeably with normal pronouns. clabo cic = clabo cicaj = I hug myself Examples of sentences "I just ate a red apple (I like apples) because I was hungry (said with a slightly happy tone)": cinakipi rendiki begelki ckaulti zipuafi eragipi cidai jayal zipuafi timizoc Sexual orientations and fetishes There are two words to describe your sexual preferences: "roza" and "fama". "roza" means you want to have sex with someone, while "fama" is a fetish. "Towards" is "ko". They can be either operands or operators. rozalkolfos: homosexuality rozalkolvuz: heterosexuality rozalkolnav: bisexuality rozalkoiyuedo: pedophilia famalkolgava: foot fetish cirozalfos: I'm gay cirozalvuz: I'm straight cifamalgava: I have a foot fetish aboti zeulpi rozalkolfos: gay person Vocabulary (work in progress) (96 words) Operands (71) ab: interrogative marker (the speaker hopes for an affirmative answer) aboc: hug abot: human ba: interrogative marker b-ga: bad-good (specific) b-ge: bad-good (generic) c: I (first person singular pronoun) caj: (reflexive) cfau: to sleep ckau: red cund: day (bright part of the 24 hours) cuta: cat d-st: dumb-smart fos: same-sex fama: fetish fauk: to have a smell faz: always the same (see "a couple ambiguous sentences") feda: the future part of today fua: affirmative or negative marker fuz: variable (see "a couple ambiguous sentences") kaca: to cause kave: snow kebab: kebab koze: turns words like "human" into "humankind" kbac: goat kurk: dog j: you jaya: hunger jmun: food gava: foot gn: generalization marker m: emotion or tone of voice na: female nak: to eat nau: negative marker nav: male or female opko: fork opto: question ovov: eye ovto: answer peda: the past part of today p-f: past-future poda: weather rend: apple rejd: rain rkao: arm roza: sexual orientation suba: to be (weather) sucu: sushi tazb: day (period of 24 hours) teda: today z-c: sadness-happiness, sad-happy veo: (experienced event) veu: (hearsay evidentiality) vez: (inference) vok: every voz: (speculation) vuz: different sex pn: plural marker re: he/she sn: singular marker ub: interrogative marker (the speaker hopes for a negative answer) urub: smile un: noun suffix vu: male vabe: night (dark part of the 24 hours) vcux: weapon xamu: to hit with a car xuxo: death zate: day (period of time from 00:00:00 to 23:59:59) pajb: walk y-do: young-old Operators (25) aboc: to hug ab-n: relationship refusal/romantic love cm: comitative preposition da: (connects a subject to a verb) dan: (connects a subject do a passive verb) fama: to have a fetish for fca: to feed k: (usually connects a noun to an adjective) kak: "like" (A does something, B does that as well) kek: "like" (A does something in the same manner as B) kok: "like" (A does something in the same intensity as B) kuk: "like" (A does something in the same manner and intensity as B) ko: (usually connects a verb to an object) m: (introduces an emotion or tone of voice) nak: to eat ns: instrumental preposition rag: therefore rer: can mean "rag" or "rok" rok: if A, then B roza: to be sexually attracted towards se: possessive (similar to 's in English) v-r: hate-love (non-romantic) z: (introduces time) zeu: (relative pronoun) ge: copula